The outbreak
by Ertal77
Summary: Noiz happens to be one of the first witnesses of a zombie outbreak in Midorijima. Guess he has a bit of a saviour complex, after all.
1. Chapter 1

When the outbreak started, Noiz was the first to notice, thanks to his vantage point on top of the roofs. If someone had asked him what he was doing up there, he wouldn't have said anything like "I was watching the streets", or "I was spying on certain people". He would just shrug and say the roofs were the best place to work in peace. But when he saw those two odd silhouettes dressed in rags, and the way they caught and attacked the two young guys, keeping at it even after they had been shot by one of the young men… Well, at that given moment his first thought was: _Something weird and dangerous is happening_. And his second thought was the main person he used to watch from the roofs.

He stood and followed the figures along some streets. The same aggressive and pointless behaviour happened again, leaving screams, blood and fallen bodies in their wake. Soon a small group of teenagers confronted them: it was the usual clique of colourful haircuts, tattoos and leather jackets. _A rhyme gang, most surely_, Noiz thought, although he didn't recognise the members. The ragged pair didn't stop for them, and the guys, after a small hesitation, started to beat them hard. After a while, they were just a bloody lump, covered in torn tatters. But, when the boys were still recovering their breath, a hand reached out from the lump all of a sudden, and then the rest of the broken bodies seemed to reassemble and stood up. The clique watched them, mesmerized, until their leader stepped forward and hit one of the creatures. The broken, bloody shape of the man recoiled, but didn't fall down, and then he stretched his arms and grasped the leader's neck, firmly, strongly, until the guy dropped to his knees. When the other creature started to walk towards the group, the boys ran away, shouting. Noiz spat, disgusted. He left that roof and moved southwards, to the other side of the neighbourhood.

Again, he wouldn't have said he was going right to Aoba's street, but he was moving definitely in that direction, and every time he saw another small group of those freaks, he went faster. In the end he was almost running, and had to stop to calm down his heartbeats and breathe deeply when he arrived in front to the Seragaki household. The street was dark and empty, thanks heaven, and Noiz supposed Aoba and his granny were having dinner, or perhaps watching tv. He climbed the closest building, feeling safer and more comfortable on high. And he knew the exact spot where he could sit down with a perfect view of Aoba's bedroom. Said room was dark now, but Noiz could wait. He made himself comfortable on a wide window ledge and opened his coil again.

Nobody would ask him why he was spying on Aoba, really. And if someone would, Noiz could always improvise an answer, or shrug it off. To himself he said that he did it because he was expecting a chance to open again a rhyme field and have his rematch. And it was a valid reason, wasn't it? Only that it had been two months already since their first rhyme game, and although Noiz knew by heart Aoba's whole schedule and habits by now, he hadn't made a move. Watching Aoba coming home from work, reading and listening to music, relaxing on his bed with his eyes closed while petting that old-fashioned all-mate of his… had become a habit on itself.

While he waited for the lights on the main floor to go off and his target to come up his room, Noiz looked for answers to what was happening in Midorijima that night. Meanwhile, he kept glancing at the street from time to time, afraid of seeing again a small group of ragged creatures hobbling along. Although the main social webs had been closed down some years ago, Midorijima had developed something similar to Tweeter to make do; and said social space was bubbling with activity that night. Those "zombies" were everywhere in the island, it seemed, even inside Platinum Jail. They had started to break into the houses in some areas downtown and well, it was evident where all the police was concentrating, wasn't it? _This is so Midorijima,_ Noiz thought, grinding his teeth, _all the protection for the wealthy, and the rest can be damned._ So they would have to protect themselves: that wasn't news for Noiz. He was used to fight for himself, no problem there. The only novelty could be…

Noiz' thoughts derailed when the light of the bedroom some feet in front and slightly below him was turned on. A young man with long blue hair appeared at the door, yawning, and Noiz' heart started pumping madly. Aoba seemed tired, was it that late? A quick look to his coil confirmed that, indeed, it was already one a.m. His eyes came back to the young male, who was stripping in the dim light and putting some pyjama pants on, leaving his jeans and dark shirt on the floor. Noiz grinned mischievously. He wasn't usually so lucky in his surveillance, although it was too dark to see many details. A loud noise in the street, which suddenly seemed remote as a faraway dream, made him come back to reality.

They were there. The… creatures. Zombies, for lack of a better word. And there were dozens of them, it would seem they were concentrating on the zone. Noiz fisted his hands, feeling on edge. He wished he had a firearm, or at least a weapon, any kind of it. Some people started to rouse due to the noise, and soon many windows were opening, shocked faces peering through them. Nobody dared to move, though. Noiz checked on Aoba again: he had turned the light off, and he was usually a heavy sleeper. Good. Noiz moved to the front side of the building, to get a better view of what was happening in the street. Someone from a window shouted abuse at the zombies, and they answered with a growl, but kept advancing. Noiz wondered where the hell they were going. If they had a concrete destination, that is, because perhaps they only wanted to scare the population, showing off their ugly faces and rotten bodies. Then he saw something that made him straighten up: A window in Aoba's house opened, and his grandma appeared in the frame, shaking a fist and shouting at the strangers. When they barely seemed to notice her (to Noiz' relief), the old woman started to throw objects to them. Then a large group of zombies stopped, right in front of Aoba's grandma, and raised their heads to look at her, grunting aloud. Noiz could have screamed then. _What is that idiotic woman doing?_, he thought. He opened his coil and started sending messages to his rhyme group, to alert them. If things got ugly, he needed weapons, and some help.

In the street, the bulk of people were joining the grandma, throwing the zombies everything they could spare and shouting them to leave the neighbourhood alone. And then, exactly what Noiz was dreading since all of this began started to happen at once: the zombies, grouped in fours or more, broke down some doors and raided inside the houses. As soon as some of them approached Aoba's frontal door, Noiz ran, took impulse and jumped the short distance that separated him from Aoba's balcony. He landed on all fours, succeeded in awakening the young man, and stood up in a nanosecond.

"Who…? What…?" Aoba was so shocked and half asleep that he didn't seem to be able to finish a question.

"No time for this", Noiz said. He marvelled at how his own voice was as calm and monotonous as always. "They are attacking your house, where's your grandma?"

Aoba clutched the duvet towards his naked chest, blinking in surprise.

"They? Who are 'they'?"

Clucking his tongue in exasperation, Noiz grabbed the boy's arm and pulled him out of his bed.

"Put something on and walk", he asked.

Aoba took his discarded t-shirt from the floor and put it on, frowning. When Noiz opened the bedroom door, the creatures' noises downstairs, bumping into the furniture and breaking things, were already so audible that Aoba lost that upset and asleep look in his face and turned immediately alert. He crossed the corridor swift and silent as a cat, and pushed a door at the other end of the corridor, facing the street. Noiz' heart jumped when he saw the scene in front of his eyes: not only were the zombies breaking through the street door, but they had also climbed up the house façade, and were now entering the woman's bedroom through her window. But she didn't scream. The old woman kept throwing things at them, and then kicking at their shins and stomping on their feet. Aoba rushed to help her with that. Noiz opted by grabbing one creature and then the other and pushing them through the window and out to the street again, where they landed with a loud 'bump'. Then he took Aoba's hand and started to run towards the other bedroom again.

"Follow us, grandma! We can go out through Aoba's balcony!"

The old woman faltered when she heard the loud noises from downstairs: they were destroying her house. But, tough as he knew she was, she recovered quickly and, without a question, the woman followed them to Aoba's bedroom. When he signalled the way out, though, she looked at it with sadness.

"Son, there's no chance of me jumping that distance."

"I'll stay with you, then!" Aoba said at once.

Noiz bit his lower lip. That wouldn't do. Aoba was in danger, and if he wanted to keep him safe, he had to take care of his grandma, too.

"OK, listen to me. We only have a moment before those beasts come upstairs. Aoba, help me to tie your bedding. I'll jump with the sheets and then you only have to pass to the other side holding to them. Can you do that?"

Before she nodded, Aoba was already taking the sheets off his bed. They had a bedding rope made in no time, strong and secure. He ran to take impulse and jumped again to the next building, climbing a bit to reach the roof. He held the rope tight while Aoba held the other end, and the old woman started to cross. She looked unsure, but she still didn't hesitate or stopped for a second. She was almost there when the zombies arrived to Aoba's bedroom. _No. NO_. Noiz noticed he was sweating. He reached out and pulled the woman up towards him, and without a second thought he jumped again to the other building, still holding the rope. Two of those rotten bodies were on top of Aoba, who was doing surprisingly ok despite of being below them, throwing kicks and punches and meanwhile trying to throttle one of the monsters. Noiz broke a chair on the head of the almost-throttled one, who fell down like a potato sack, and then recoiled to avoid a bite from the other one. Aoba used the distraction to kick him hard on his stomach, effectively knocking him out. The boy smiled, exhausted, and Noiz reached out to help him up. He was still on edge, because he knew those two would be up too, and kicking again, in no more than a minute. So they should escape fast. Besides, were there only two of them inside the house?

"We must join your grandma right now".

Aoba nodded, and stepped back to have a run towards the balcony. But he was stopped in his tracks by two arms grabbing him from behind. Noiz wanted to scream, but just opened his mouth in disbelief: there were three zombies more at the door, and one of them had just taken hold of Aoba, and his ugly huge mouth, full of brown and smelly teeth, was approaching Aoba's neck as if he was about to bite him. _NO. Not if I am here._

Without time to think further, he ran fast towards them, head first, and noticed with delight that he had run over the main attacker and pushed the others behind him. They might be unable to die, but they weren't strong; that was something. Aoba had freed himself and was kicking the three creatures, hard and viciously. Noiz almost smiled: he knew from the start that Aoba had that in him, he was a tough bastard if needed. That sweet smile of him was… charming, but Noiz knew there was more in Aoba that what met the eye; that was obvious after watching him playing rhyme.

The two unconscious zombies started to rouse, to Noiz' dismay. He had to take the chance to get rid of them while they were still… how to say it? Reassembling their pieces?

"Aoba, help me here!"

Between the two of them, they grabbed the two fallen zombies and pushed them down the balcony, down to the alley some twenty feet below them. Some gun shots could be heard, coming from the main street, and Noiz wondered if his rhyme mates were already there, or if the Midorijima's inhabitants had dusted their few firearms and had put them to good use. Either way, he felt slightly relieved. At his back, the three blood stained zombies still lied down, quiet, and his crush was by his side, looking at him in awe, so close his shoulders were touching in the narrow balcony.

"Come on, let's jump and join your grandma."

"Wait a moment."

Noiz shot a questioning look to the hand grasping his arm.

"Who are you?"

Noiz blinked in disbelief.

"You already know my name."

"Well, I know they call you 'Noiz', but I doubt is your real name, and that you are a rhyme obsessed brat, and that you have been following me lately. Not the best of the acquaintance with someone, I would say."

Aoba watched the street events, pulling some blue strands of hair out of his face. Noiz was a hundred per cent aware of their situation, but still a part of him wanted nothing more than reaching out and holding that slim waist towards him.

"And?" he asked instead.

"And suddenly you break into my house…"

"There was a good reason for it!"

"… and wake me up and help me fight those… things, risking your life, when you barely know me…"

"That's not true", Noiz whispered softly.

But Aoba didn't seem to hear him, because he kept on rambling, gesticulating with his pale long hands.

"…And I can't understand! Shut up, you ugly monster!" With that, Aoba threw a flowerpot from the balcony to one of the zombies, who was starting to stand up, with so good aim that hit him exactly in the middle of his forehead and fell down again, on top of his mates. "So, before we go joining my grandma and try to find out what the hell is happening in Midorijima, I need to clear things up and find out what is happening here."

Noiz looked around him.

"Here? Well, we have just gotten rid of five zombies, or whatever they are…"

Aoba puffed, frustrated, and looked him in the eye.

"Don't be such a prick, I mean what you are doing here in my room!"

"Saving what is mine, obviously", Noiz answered with a calm voice.

Since the moment required it, he did hold Aoba's waist with both hands and leaned in for a short kiss. Aoba's lips were soft and his body was trembling, and Noiz felt all his blood huddling up his brain, clouding his mind. He definitely wanted more, more of Aoba's warmth, more of his skin, more of his sweet closeness.

He released him, reluctant, to watch his reaction. Aoba's mouth was a tight line, and Noiz couldn't read his expression, which was frustrating. But then the boy made out his mind and said simply:

"Right. We will… will talk later, ok?" And there was uncertainty in his voice, but not plain rejection, and Noiz felt like shouting for joy. He kept his mouth shout, though. "Let's join my grandma and make sure she is safe."

He took the bedding rope from the floor and got ready to jump.

"And then?"

Aoba turned to look again at him with a small crooked grin.

"Then? Then we go kicking some zombie asses, of course!"


	2. Chapter 2

Noiz and a small group of Ruff Rabbit mates returned to their base after a patrol. Noiz was tired, hungry and dirty, and only the chance to see Aoba in the base made his humour less bitter.

After the initial outbreak, the zombies had kept appearing from out of the blue, chasing the inhabitants and terrorizing the whole Midorijima island. That same first night, Toue had offered a tv report on the situation, saying it would be under control very soon, and that a highly trained military unit would come to the island to solve the most pressing issues. But three days had already passed, and nobody had seen any trace of said military help. Perhaps they were all in Platinum Jail; that would make sense knowing Toue's politics. In any case, the regular updates on the situation kept talking about "coming back to normality little by little", trying to calm down the population but, if anything, the zombies only seemed to increase their number in the streets.

Meanwhile, Ruff Rabbit and other rhyme teams had organised civil patrols and a safe place for all the people who was losing their houses to the zombies. Some areas were outright declared "no safe to live in any more", so hundreds of refugees arrived to the safe buildings every few hours. For the rhymers, it was thrilling, in a way: for the first time of their lives, most of those young men were living a real adventure, fighting real monsters, and suddenly they felt they had a purpose in life. Noiz could understand it, a bit. But either way, his mates' noisy enthusiasm was fifty per cent embarrassing, and fifty per cent annoying.

Their base and safe place was located in two twin buildings, previously abandoned, but which were perfect for their goal, with their twenty storeys and lots of free space. They had barred all stairs, elevators and main doors but one of each, and there were always guards in front of them and in every corridor. Aoba and his grandma had holed up in a room in the fourteenth storey. Noiz hadn't claimed any room, but he had a favourite couch in one of the meeting rooms where he usually napped. He felt better with all the noise and voices around.

The group greeted the guard and took the elevator. Most of the Ruff Rabbit's members lived now in the fourteenth floor, so up there they went. They drop their guns, flamethrowers and axes at the hall, where some team members busied themselves cleaning and recharging the weapons. Noiz went to have a shower at once. The apartments had been divided into rooms for families and couples, and the kitchens, bathrooms and sitting rooms were now communitarian. So Noiz used the first bathroom he found empty. He felt like a million times better without all that zombie blood and grime over him. He took an apple from the nearest kitchen and went to find Aoba.

The boy hadn't been exactly avoiding him since the night they arrived there, but he limited their communication to the minimum. Besides of being assigned communal tasks, Aoba had also met his friends in the building, so now Noiz could only get glimpses of his blue hair while he worked or talked with the hairdresser and the tattooist. It was deeply frustrating, but it was better than nothing. At least he knew for sure that Aoba was safe.

He found him easily, his bright hair like a signal flag in the middle of a crowded room. He was talking with that giant leader of the Scrap rhyme group. Noiz frowned when he approached them some more and noticed that, in fact, they were arguing and not talking.

"…I only said that you could speak to them with more respect", Aoba was saying.

The tanned giant gave a puff to his pipe and looked Aoba over.

"That's none of your business, boy", he whispered at last in a deep, rough voice.

"Look: that people have lost everything they owned, so the least we can do for them is being kind", the young man insisted. "And if fact it is _my business_, since I am one of them!"

The huge man grunted and spat on the floor.

"Fuck off already".

Noiz felt his anger bubbling and rising inside of him. Who the fuck did that man think he was? _Yes, I get it_, he thought_, Scrap means ex-convict, so he's tough as hell, or so he thinks. Well, I don't mind._

"Leave him alone", he said with his calm and soft voice, although he was gritting his teeth. "And speak to Aoba with more respect in the future, if you don't want to get in trouble."

The giant turned, very slowly, and looked Noiz in the eye. He was Native American, and wore an impressive amount of chains and iron around his neck and wrists. Even Noiz could observe that the man was about three times bigger than him, and that he wasn't impressed at all by his words.

"And why would I do that?" the giant asked at last, and his tone was as calm and monotonous as Noiz', so the latter couldn't guess if that was meant as a joke, as a rebuke or as a threat.

"Because he is mine", Noiz answered all the same, loud and clear.

Before the giant could react, Aoba blushed and took Noiz' arm, pulling him some feet away and far from the small group of passers-by that were watching the exchange with amusement.

"Alright, Noiz, we must talk!" the young man said, his cheeks tinged in a lovely red shade. "We are not six year olders, you can't say to someone: 'I like you, so from now on you are mine'! Do you understand?"

Noiz stared, but said nothing. Aoba sighed and rubbed his forehead, obviously annoyed.

"You still don't get it, do you? Look, these things require time, and I barely know you…"

Noiz considered these words for a moment, and then said:

"I am from Germany."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, I was brought up in Berlin". Noiz thought of more things to say that might interest Aoba. "I was homeschooled. I am really good at Computers and Maths."

"Ah… Well…" Aoba looked uncomfortable and twitched. "Thank you for the information, but… But that's not how it works."

"No?"

"No! Oh, god, I really can't get you! Look… I have to go now, see you later!"

And he retreated to the door of his room, which happened to be just some feet away, leaving Noiz thoroughly confused. Aoba's grandma was leaning against the doorframe, watching them, and as soon as her grandson was near enough, she said, in a loud voice so Noiz could hear:

"Don't be so hard with that boy! He has helped us a lot these last days."

Aoba frowned.

"I don't think that gives him any claim over me. I am not an object, last time I checked." Tae shrugged and looked away. "Besides, I can imagine what kind of 'price' he is looking for, and I'm not interested".

His grandma glared at him.

"I know you are young, boy, but even you must know that nobody enters a house and fights zombies for someone only to get sex…"

Aoba's only reply was huffing and putting his earphones one. He disappeared inside their room. Tae sighed loudly and exclaimed, shaking her head:

"Always so stubborn, this boy!"

The next day, though, when Noiz came back from his scheduled patrol there wasn't any blue hair in sight. He asked one of his mates, the one who was in charge to organize the roster.

"Ah, your friend!" he answered. "Some ribsters friends of his were going to patrol northwards, and he decided to go with them."

"Shit! I told you to assign him tasks that implied he stayed here in the building!"

His mate grinned.

"Someone is being too overprotective of his girlfriend?"

Noiz looked away.

"It's not… It's not like that."

"Relax, mate! He will be alright! He is armed and can take care of himself."

"Yeah, I know that…"

But he still felt uneasy. In the end, he took again a weapon (a flamethrower this time) and went out on his own.

"Oi! Noiz! What the hell, man, you are not going out alone, are you?"

"Forget me!"

He had the advantage of being agile and used to climb and move through the roofs. He ran northwards and as soon as the buildings started to be lower (two-three stories as much), he climbed and jumped from roof to roof. He had a perfect view from there. The area seemed quite clear, and only burned remains of zombies could be seen in the streets. A patrol had obviously passed by. After half an hour, more or less, he saw afar one of Aoba's friends, that tattooist ribster. Noiz climbed down carefully and ran towards the small group.

"Where's Aoba?" he greeted them. "Wasn't he with your group?"

The tattooist, who had a white tear drawn under his left eye, shoot him a suspicious look.

"Good afternoon to you, too. And yes, he was here with us."

"So? Why he isn't with you now?"

"He thought he had heard a strange noise inside a house and went to check it."

"Alone?" Noiz could feel his anger rising again. What were patrols for, if not for staying together so nobody was attacked by surprise? Aoba sure was restless…

"He is in that house over there; we can hear him if he shouts for help. If we don't break away, it's impossible to check the whole neighbourhood…"

Noiz ran towards that house. _They are surely right, and Aoba can manage_, he thought. _He can, I know. But… I would feel better knowing for sure._

The house looked empty and already raided by the zombies. It was dark, and full of broken pieces of furniture. Noiz waited a moment, listening, while his eyes got used to the lack of light. He could hear something. Not voices, and not fighting, but there was something. It was further inside. He stepped forward and crossed a door. The dim light of the sunset entered through a broken blind, barely illuminating a kitchen. Nervous, Noiz thought that they should be back at the base when the night fell, because the zombies used to be more active and aggressive then. He heard again a muffled noise, and opened a kitchen lower cabinet: there was someone inside! A little girl, it seemed. She was obviously trying to be quiet, but she was also very frightened and the muffled sound Noiz had heard was her sobbing.

"Don't worry, there's more people outside, and we will take you to a safe place… Your parents?"

The girl shook her head. _They are dead or she doesn't know where they are_.

"Have you seen a guy with long blue hair?"

She nodded.

"He was the one who told me to hide in the cabinet."

"And where is he?"

She started to sob again.

"No, please, I need you to answer."

Noiz felt uneasy and the girl was starting to annoy him. He wished he had the patience to attend a frightened little girl right then, but sadly he was too worried himself.

"I don't know! He said there could be a zombie somewhere in the house, and he had to check. He told me he would come back in a minute!"

"OK." Noiz breathed deeply once, twice. "Look, go outside. You will find a group of men, you will be fine with them."

"No! I'll go with you!"

"No way! Please go outside!"

In the end, he took her to the front door. From there, she could see the small group of ribsters and felt safe enough to run towards them. Feeling relieved, Noiz trotted upstairs to check the first floor. Aoba should be somewhere, isn't it? He couldn't just disappear.

Noiz walked slowly along the long corridor upstairs, his flamethrower ready and up. He could hear something, like someone crawling, but he didn't dare to call aloud for Aoba; he couldn't be sure that anybody else was hiding in one of the rooms. And if everything was clear, Aoba surely would have come back downstairs by now. Noiz opened the first door with a loud 'bump': an empty, dark bedroom. The second: a narrow toilet, seemingly empty, too. Another bedroom. And… a storeroom? He couldn't see a thing. He moved, trying to find his coil's lighter, when he heard again the crawling sound, very clearly this time, and inside that storeroom.

"Aoba?" he whispered.

"Mmmm!"

His coil's screen appeared, glowing white and bright in the darkness, and at first he still couldn't see anybody, only cardboard boxes and shelves, but then he noticed something moving under a fallen bookshelf. A familiar boot, kicking the air.

A strong kick cleared the bookshelf out of the way, and there he was, at last perfectly visible. Aoba had fallen, and a zombie was dragging him, covering his mouth with one hand. At seeing Noiz, Aoba twisted and got rid of that hand, at least, and started kicking again, trying to free himself from the strong grip of the creature. Noiz cursed; he couldn't use the flamethrower there, with Aoba in front of the zombie, and the space was too narrow to fight. He had to move fast. Aoba shook harder, hiding his head, and Noiz saw the chance he was giving him, and used it: he took the heavy flamethrower and hit the zombie's face with it. The blood splattered all around, but the monster didn't fall down, looking more shocked than injured. Noiz repeated his blow, stronger this time. The zombie's features disappeared in a disgusting lump of brown and bloody flesh. Aoba escaped from his grip, crawling towards Noiz and, once he was past him, near the door, Noiz stepped back and fired the flamethrower. The whole storeroom lit at once, and an awful smell of burnt meat invaded Noiz' nostrils. He ran back to the corridor and closed the door, muffling the screams from the dying zombie.

He turned to look at Aoba: he was covered in blood from head to toes, but seemed to be alright.

"We… we must go downstairs", Aoba whispered in a tiny voice. "There's a little girl hidden…"

"She is already outside, with your friends."

Aoba's shoulders drop, Noiz wondered if because he was relieved or just from exhaustion. He was still high on adrenaline after his encounter with the zombie and how scared he had been of losing Aoba. He came closer to the young man. Aoba looked at him in the eye, his light pupils a glowering golden in the gloomy corridor.

"Thank you for saving me… again", he said, serious.

Noiz shrugged, uncomfortable. He never knew what to say when people thanked him.

"Try not to make it a habit, though", he said at last, "my damsel in distress."

"Oi!" Aoba gritted his teeth, annoyed. "What the fuck! You brat… Couldn't shut your mouth if your life depended on it!"

Noiz chuckled. Aoba looked funny like that, so angry but still trembling. He most surely had had a good fright. His anger relented quickly, and soon he offered Noiz a weak and tired smile.

"Aoba…" Noiz ventured. "Can I kiss you again?"

His face turned serious again, and a bit shocked. But just a bit. Aoba looked away, shyly, but finally shrugged. Noiz took that as a "yes". He put his hand on Aoba's chin and turned his face towards him. Those lips looked warm and welcoming. He touched them with his, and had the terrific surprise of finding Aoba's mouth opening at once, sucking at his tongue with hunger. _It's the adrenaline, it must be the adrenaline…_, he thought. It might have been that, being at a dark corridor of a ruined house, with the corpse of a zombie burning some feet away and blood and ashes covering their hair and their clothes… While around them the streets started to awake and turn still more dangerous, as the sky changed from peach and violet to dark blue, and the whole island seemed near the apocalypses. But Noiz felt alive, and his entire world had narrowed down to Aoba, who was feeling wildly alive as well, and was kissing him back as if this was the last day of their lives. And suddenly there was a hand under his shirt, and Aoba was shuddering but his skin was burning as embers, and Noiz had never wanted anyone so badly.

"Let's go home", Noiz managed to whisper to Aoba's ear, licking the delicate shell. "I'll find an empty room."

Aoba took his hand off Noiz' clothes, and Noiz studied his face, trying to read if the young man was annoyed, sad, tired or whatever. He really sucked at reading emotions, and that had never bothered him more than at that very moment.

"What happens? You don't want to?"

Aoba sighed and put some space between them. Noiz felt his skin cold and empty all of a sudden.

"I told you yesterday, Noiz. Some things require time. And I'm not interested in a quick fuck. Not now, at least, with all that's happening."

Noiz didn't know what to say to that. Aoba kept staring at him, as if he was waiting for an answer, but he truly couldn't say a word.

"If at least I knew what you feel…" Aoba insisted.

Noiz felt a lump in his throat. _What I feel?_ He couldn't put it in words. After a short silence, Aoba turned and started walking towards the stairs.

"Come on, Noiz, it's almost dark, we must go back to the base."

And the only thing he could do was follow Aoba, since he was right, it was almost night, and they should reach a safe place before the streets turned more dangerous. Fisting his hands, he wished he could guess if Aoba's voice transpired the same frustration that filled his own body.


	3. Chapter 3

In the next forty-eight hours nothing seemed to change... except that the inhabitants of Midorijima started to look weary and worn out while the number of zombies only increased, and some zones of the town were now literally warzones, with whole streets burned down to set some kind of barriers against the monsters. The other change was that now, almost every time Aoba and he shared a look from across the room, they ended finding a mostly private nook somewhere and kissing each other. Sometimes, if there were people around, it was only a small peck. Others, like at that very moment, they could take their time and enjoy a long and heated snog. They hadn't talked about it, it had only been a short exchange of glances, and then, just a minute after, they bumped at the almost empty stairs and suddenly Aoba was pinned to the wall by a pair of hot lips. The small group of teenagers sitting some stairs below took a quick glance at them and proceeded to ignore the couple. Intimacy was something the base was lacking, sadly.

_I think I'm in love with him_, Noiz thought_. Was this what he wanted me to say the other day? Then perhaps I should tell him now. But, on the other hand, perhaps I'll scare him away saying that all of a sudden…_ He thought the whole "sentiments" thing was truly difficult, and still unexplored land for him, and he would avoid scaring Aoba off by all means. He wanted nothing more than to enjoy his closeness and his warmth for as long as Aoba would let him. So he tried to keep his hands waist up every time they kissed, although at that moment they had been at it for ten good minutes, and when he held the other man closer there was a clear erection down there, rubbing against his hip, and a rough moan escaped from Aoba's lips. Noiz shuddered, turned on like hell.

"Hey, you, lovey-doveys", someone said at their back, and obviously to them, "meeting room in two minutes!"

They parted, Noiz with an inquiring look on his face, Aoba avoiding his eyes and wiping his mouth with his long-fingered hand. His cheeks and his ears were tinged in scarlet and his blue bangs were a mess, and Noiz wished he was allowed to arrange his hair for him. But of course Aoba rushed to the meeting room without a single word or gesture to him, embarrassed. Noiz sighed and followed him.

The meeting room was the largest space in the fourteenth floor, perhaps previously a loft. Noiz watched the crowd around him, and he noticed that not everybody had been summoned: the attendants were mostly adult men below their fifties, although a small bunch of strong and tough looking women could be seen, too. It was obvious what the topic of the meeting would be. Noiz saw Aoba had met his friends, and was chattering with them with a worried tiny smile on his face. Feeling a bit left aside, Noiz stood where he was and waited for the leaders to appear. One was that huge Native American guy, Mink, but Noiz was surprised to see who followed him closely and stood on top of a low table to be seen while addressing the crowd: it was Tae, Aoba's grandma. One quick glance in Aoba's direction told Noiz the boy was as surprised as he was when the old woman started to speak.

"Good afternoon, everybody", she said with her rasp voice. "You can surely guess why we have gathered here today. I regret to say that we finally know for sure the origin of the zombie outbreak, thanks to Mink's team and to my previous inquiries."

A loud general murmur burst into the room: yes, she had said the dreaded word nobody dared to say aloud. _Zombies_. If there was a better word for those creatures, anybody knew, but 'zombies' was pretty accurate anyway.

"Shut up and listen to the lady", Mink said in a calm voice, effectively shutting everybody up.

"Some of us have worked at Toue's facilities at some point of our lives, and we are aware of what kind of 'experiments" is Toue running… And it seems his latest ones revolve around chemical weapons."

"Is it a virus, then?" someone shouted.

Tae nodded.

"Yes, Mink's infiltrate in the Oval Tower has confirmed it."

The muttering started again, but this time Mink cut it at once, raising one of his huge hands.

"This is what we are going to do now", he said then. "We will take some volunteers, four groups of five members each, we will enter Platinum Jail and then take the labs in the Oval Tower. We will force Toue to stop the virus and help us to rebuild Midorijima!"

Most of the people cheered, although they all seemed more concerned and exhausted than rebellious. Some of the presents started to fire questions, asking for the details of the plan. Mink cut it short.

"We don't have time to spare, the details will be discussed with the volunteers. I want to set off to Platinum Jail in an hour, to arrive at nightfall, before the zombie activity peaks. So… who volunteers?"

At the last sentence, his eyes fixed on Noiz. Noiz stared back, defiant, but he didn't raise his hand. Around him, though, some men started to put their hands up, and Mink looked away. The German boy took a look around, too, and sighed when he saw Aoba had raised his hand. _As I should have expected, damn my luck_, he thought, putting his hand up as well.

And that way the meeting arrived to its end. Two of Mink's men took note of the volunteers' names and the rest of the attendants were reluctantly leaving. The ones staying revolved around Mink, shifting nervously.

"Alright, the plan is simple", Mink explained. He was a man of few words, and being forced to give explanations seemed to exhaust him. "One Scrap member has been working in the Oval Tower as security for a month, because we were already investigating him."

"What for?" Noiz said in a nonchalant voice.

"That's none of your business", the sharp answer was. Mink didn't look at him, keeping his eyes roaming through the volunteers. "He has provided a plan map of Oval Tower: we know where the elevators, the alarms and the cameras are. Approach your coils, I will send you the file." They all did, and all the twenty coils started to light up in turns when the file arrived. "We also have a code that will blur the image in the cameras for a while: it won't disconnect them, so once we enter the code, we must move quickly. This is why the groups have to be small. The old lady has given us information about the labs area, so we know more or less what to expect there. That area is less guarded, but arriving up there won't be easy. We will all enter the building through this door here", he signalled a spot on his coil's open screen, "and then we will separate and each group will go up to the labs using a different way. This should raise our chances of success: it is of the utmost importance that at least one group makes it to the labs. You have the paths marked in red in the plan maps."

They all studied their coils for a moment. Then one of Aoba's friends, the one with the tear tattooed on his cheek, asked:

"What about the main door? How will be open it?"

Mink's piercing eyes fixed on Noiz instead of addressing the tattooist.

"That's where this guy enters."

"Me?" Noiz asked, quietly, his face giving away nothing at all.

"You quite famous among the rhymers; everybody says you are the best breaking into systems. You will make sure the door opens for us and that the alarm is put in place again after our entering, so the main system doesn't detect us. You will wait until everybody has come in, and then will join your group. Can you do that?"

Noiz smirked.

"Of course. But I will only do it if I am put in the same group as Aoba."

The blue haired man groaned loudly. Mink sighed with annoyance.

"Sure, you get to be in the same group as your girlfriend."

"Oi!"

Aoba gritted his teeth, his face red up to his ears. Mink glanced at him and he suddenly froze, clicking his tongue.

"…You are the old lady grandson, right?" he asked. Aoba nodded, his blush subsiding a bit. Mink turned to Noiz again. "You have his back, Stud. Or the old lady will have my head, you understand?"

Noiz nodded, grinning. At the corner of his eye, he saw Aoba covering his face with his hands, groaning again in embarrassment.

"And what would you have done if I refused to do the deed?" Noiz asked before leaving.

The huge man looked sharply at him, raising an eyebrow.

"I would have used other means of persuasion."

And Noiz decided he really didn't need to follow that path of conversation.

"…Right."

It didn't take long to prepare the incursion. Mink's men had already gotten ready weapons and a small backpack with first necessity items for every member. So in an hour, more or less, the twenty volunteers, including Mink and three of his Scrap members, were at the main door of the base, ready to part.

The afternoon was giving way to night when they arrived to the Oval Tower. Sneaking into Platinum Jail had been easy, as there was a secret pathway that some of the older people knew, and their travel through the exclusive neighbourhood had been almost awkward and almost dreamy, as they haven't found a soul across it: not a vehicle or a person, and not a zombie either. So it was true after all, Platinum Jail had been evacuated, while the rest of Midorijima had been left to its own devices. Noiz' hands fisted when he thought about it, about the hundreds of people piling up in the base, their homes lost, and the rest of the inhabitants hiding in their houses, scared to death, while those hellish creatures invaded their island and destroyed everything. The casualties tally was of hundreds at that time. And what was the culprit doing about? Noiz would bet his ass that Toue had left the island in the first plane after the outbreak, and that those reports were recorded from Australia or Hawaii. His blood boiled when they finally arrived to the Tower's door. The group opened, letting him come through and approach the alarmed double door. Noiz studied the system and opened his coil with a 'pop'. It was complicated, but not the most complicated security system Noiz had ever seen, and in less than ten minutes the doors opened. The sky was already dark around them, and only some of the plaza lights were on, and they moved like shadows, going inside the building quickly and as silent as they could manage. Each group ran to their goal without needing to speak, and in less than a minute only Noiz' group was at the door. He passed and closed the door, activating again the alarm, as they had planned. So far, so good.

Their group was composed by Noiz, Aoba, the tattooist (Mizuki was his name) and two other ribsters from Mizuki's team. The tattooist took the leader role at once, and Noiz was okay with it, as he hated to lead. Even in the Rhyme group he had founded, he was only the founder member, but not the leader: being regarded with respect was fine for him, having to take decisions and arbitrate arguments was not. So he followed Mizuki alongside Aoba, climbing up service stairs and hiding behind office doors every time they found Toue's workers around. From time to time, Mink checked on them through Mizuki's coil. It all seemed fine at the moment, but they were advancing slower than they thought. There were more workers than they expected to find, mostly technicians, and they didn't want to attract too much attention knocking them down.

Every now and then, they found a code box in front a stair or a door they had to access. In the first five floors the code they were provided worked fine, and they could run through the obstacle after a short pause to regain their breath. When they reached the sixth, however, and Mizuki entered the code to access the corridor from the staircase, it didn't work. The tattooist groaned and turned to look at Noiz.

"I suppose this is where our luck abandon us, and you get to save the day", he said.

Noiz studied the code box, frowning. It was an easy work, but he was a little concerned. He didn't want to say it aloud, but the fact the code didn't work any more could mean Toue's system had detected them and was trying to stop them, and that would mean way more that only a changed code… They could find more security from then on. After a minute of close study of the insides of the case, he cut a wire with a scissors. The door opened.

"Go on, quickly", he said. "I have to join the wires again when we have entered."

He plucked two wires from the code box and pulled them to the other side of the door. Mizuki and the others checked the corridor, running around the corner. Noiz connected again the wires, closing the door. He tried to hide a bit the wires inside the doorframe, so they weren't visible at first sight. He stepped back to look at the outcome: not bad. He smiled proudly when suddenly a noise at his back startled him. He turned in time to see Aoba hitting a security guard in the head with the handle of his axe; the man surely had appeared from an office door, because Noiz hadn't seen or heard him before. He slumped to the floor, unconscious, and Aoba grinned widely at Noiz, satisfied.

"That's one less I owe you!" he exclaimed, and Noiz couldn't help to chuckle.

That floor was trickier than the previous ones, and they ended having to stop and hide for almost half an hour, until the shift of a bunch of technicians ended and they had free way again. The men were unarmed, but there were around thirty of them, so they didn't have another choice than waiting. Mink sounded upset on the coil, but he said the other groups were facing similar obstacles and the whole operation was being slowed down. But they managed to get to the next floor. Noiz repeated his trick at the stairs door, and there they went.

That seventh floor seemed to be full of storage rooms and fewer offices, but just when they were starting to feel confident again they heard running steps approaching them: a large group by the sound of it, and that 'clink' metallic sound resounding with every step could perfectly be of guns. Mizuki signalled an open door, and they stepped inside the storage room and closed the door in a heartbeat. Once the group of what they supposed were armed men had passed, Mizuki went to open the door again. To his dismay, it wouldn't open. Noiz came closer, but the system was different this time: no code box, just a bar code reader. They all sat down, frustrated, while Noiz tried his best at opening the door, but nothing worked in the end.

"So what? Are we cooped up in this storeroom like mice in a trap?" one of the men asked, upset.

Noiz said nothing. What could he say? He felt like he had failed. He eyed Aoba with frustration. At least he seemed calm, and in fact anyone blamed Noiz.

"You have done everything you could, mate, relax", Mizuki said, reassuring.

But then he tried to contact Mink through his coil, and found out the communication wasn't working either. He cursed loudly. All of them tried to use their coils, but although they could access their stored data, the messages wouldn't come through. They looked absolutely defeated.

"This looks bad", Aoba said flatly.

"We are fucked", another guy added. "They already know we are here, the next we will hear is those security guards opening this door for us."

"Hey, hey!" Mizuki said, raising his hands, trying to appease them. "We don't know that! And Mink was checking in us every ten minutes; I'm sure when he notices the communication is broken he will organise a rescue patrol."

"As if!" the previous guy puffed. "He has made himself clear: he only needs one of the groups to achieve our goal. The rest of us are necessary casualties, by all that he cares."

"Ha!" Mizuki grinned. "We have two assets he might need to recover: Aoba is Tae's grandson, and you all know how Tae would react if her only family was missing in action…" His ribster mate nodded, gulped, and Noiz couldn't help to grin: Tae was pretty famous, it seemed. "And there's also this guy", Mizuki pointed at Noiz, who raised an eyebrow, suspicious. "He is our expert in breaking through systems, after all. I bet Mink won't let him go that easy". The whole group turned to stare at Noiz, who sighed in annoyance. "Alright, I'll tell you what: it must be pretty late already, so let's all rest for a while, ok? Try to sleep. I'll do the first watch."

They all grunted, but after all Noiz was right, there wasn't much they could do right then. Noiz studied his surroundings. The storeroom was big, with shelves up to the ceiling. He opened one of the cardboard boxes that filled the room, and found out it contained uniforms. He unfolded one: it was a grey overall. He peeked inside other boxes: same content. There were green overalls, white ones and the grey ones, all of them with the 'Toue Inc.' logo in small letters on the chest. Great.

"Hey, give me some of those", one of the guys said, "at least we won't have to sleep on the floor."

Noiz opened a couple of boxes more, and they shared the contents, spreading the uniforms into layers until they at least provided some insulation from the cold and hard floor. Noiz lay down on his back, eyes fixed on the ceiling. It was far from comfortable, but the day's events were taking their toll on him, and he decided he would fall asleep easily after all.

Then, to his surprise, Aoba crawled closer and snugged next to him. Speechless, Noiz sneaked an arm around Aoba's shoulders, and it was welcomed, as Aoba placed his head on top, laying on his side, facing Noiz. His hand went to rest on Noiz' chest, and soon the German boy moved closer and held him by his waist, inhaling his hair's scent. The improvised cot had turned suddenly the most comfortable bed Noiz had found himself in a while, with Aoba's warmth and smell shrouding him like a blanket. He was amazed that the young man had dared to approach him like that, in front of his friends, but when he glanced at Mizuki, who sat by the door, the guy was looking at them with a half smile dancing on his lips. Noiz closed his eyes, trying to go back to that sleepy state he was a minute before. Aoba nuzzled his shoulder in silence. Noiz rubbed his back in small circles, trying to be reassuring.

"We will get through this, Aoba. Soon we will be back home."

"What home?"

Aoba's voice was bitter, and Noiz remembered Aoba didn't even know if his house had been burned down or if it was standing up yet. He leaned to kiss his frowned eyebrow.

"Home will be wherever you want me to take you, when all of this has ended. The world is wide."

Aoba said nothing, but Noiz swore he could feel him smiling against his chest.


	4. Chapter 4

The opening of the door startled awake the four young men (five, if we also counted Mizuki, who was starting to doze off, although he would always deny it). The impressive silhouette of Mink outlined in the door frame was a relief for everybody, and even Noiz thought he had never been so happy to see the huge man. Then he realized Aoba was still asleep and drooling over his shoulder, and couldn't help to grin while he shook the boy's arm.

"Hey, babe, wake up! We have been rescued!"

"What the hell have you just called me, you brat?!" Aoba groaned with his eyes still shut.

Noiz joined the chuckles of the whole group.

"So you were awake after all… Mind to budge so I can move, darling?"

Aoba did slip from Noiz' arms, leaving a cold and empty gap at Noiz' side, but the sight of the young man so annoyed made up for the loss.

"Call me pet names again and I'll kick your stupid ass from here to damn Germany!" Aoba hissed, punching Noiz hard in his arm.

"Can you two behave?" Mink cut them with a stern face. "You can play all that you want when we are back. We need to reach the higher floors as soon as possible; it's obvious we have been detected."

"Where are the rest?" Mizuki asked, concerned.

"Two of the teams have been forced to go back. We have lost the communication with the remaining group: we have just searched for them around their planned path, but they aren't there."

"Perhaps they have found an obstacle and have chosen a different way", Mizuki added in a dubious tone.

"Or perhaps Toue's men have taken them", one of his men whined. "How much have we slept?"

Mizuki checked his coil.

"Less than two hours. It's already three in the morning."

"Let's not lose more time, then", Mink said. "When the code stopped to work, I contacted my man and he was able to give me another one. This one, though, only works for elevators, not for doors, so we should be really, really careful from now on. Come on! My group is waiting at the end of this corridor!"

The five of them followed Mink down the corridor and turned twice, until they reached a door. A mess of broken wires protruded from the plunged code box next to that door, and Noiz shook his head at seeing it.

"…Very subtle."

"We were in a hurry", Mink grunted. "Now shut up and enter the elevator."

At the other side of the door, Mink's men had the elevator opened and stopped. They threw two unconscious bodies from the inside to make place for the newcomers. It was Mizuki's turn of shaking his head.

"We were supposed to pass unnoticed!"

"But it's too late for that now. Come on, let's go directly to the twenty-fifth floor!" Mink barked.

The elevator wasn't thought to hold ten grown up men, and it moved upwards slightly slower that it should. _But still,_ Noiz thought, _way faster than it would have taken us to climb from floor to floor using the stairs._

"Get your weapons ready".

"You don't expect finding security guards at three in the morning, do you?" Mizuki asked.

"Now that we have been uncovered, who knows what we can find…" another Scratch member answered, raising his gun.

The elevator door opened as slowly as it had ascended. If they were expecting men, they were wrong. However, there was indeed a welcome party for them.

"What the fuck…?" one of the men exclaimed with disbelief.

"What are them? Dogs?" Aoba asked, trying to see something from behind the taller guys in front of him.

They seemed dogs, in fact: big, black, aggressive Dobermans. They hissed and bared their teeth at them. But as soon as the first man stepped out of the elevator, the dogs' heads opened and they found themselves staring at a triple gun per dog. A triple huge gun.

"Out!" Mink shouted, running for the dogs and shooting at them.

His main weapon was a knife, though, because there weren't many firearms left in the base, but luckily he still had a small gun with him. Noiz knew he wouldn't have more than a couple of bullets left. As the other men moved away, Noiz placed himself in front of Aoba, sheltering him with his body, because he knew Aoba didn't have any firearm either, only the axe. They ran through the dogs, shooting one effectively down, and dodging the other two until they turned the corner and put some space between them and the mechanical hounds. But then they found five dogs more in front of the door they needed to go through, the one leading to the chemical labs area. Mink cursed loudly, pocketing his useless gun and wielding the rather large knife with skilled movements. One of the dogs came two steps closer to him, baring its teeth while its gun aimed for him. A Scratch member shot his gun at the mechanical dog, blowing his dangerous head away. The remaining four dogs reacted at once and shot at them. Noiz jumped again in front of Aoba, gritting his teeth, and shot his flamethrower, burning those hellish circuits: that made another dog down, three still shooting.

"Noiz!" Aoba shouted. "You are injured!"

Noiz looked down, following Aoba's startled gaze: there was, indeed, a patch of blood on his left side.

"It's nothing", he said. "Come on, Aoba, we must cross that door!"

And he grabbed the young man's hand and started to run. Three of Mink's and Mizuki's men were slightly injured, too, but joining forces they were starting to put those damned machines down. Aoba let himself go from Noiz' hand and chopped one of the beasts' head down in a clean blow. Noiz felt his own eyebrows go so high up that they almost touched his hairline.

"Just wow!"

Aoba smirked at him.

"Who's the 'babe' now?" he chuckled.

Noiz bit up the retort he had in his tongue, and opted for grabbing his hand again and running through the door, where the entire group reunited, closed the door and tried to regain their breath again. Two of the injured men couldn't walk any more, so they stayed there, sitting down with the flamethrower, which had turned out to be very useful and could be fired while seated. The remaining eight raised their weapons again and set off to the first door in the corridor. It was a glass door, leading to a wide and airy lab with white and high walls and ceiling, and to their surprise, it was full of people and activity even at that time of the night. Adding to the surreal feeling, the technicians glanced at them but then proceeded to ignore the intruders and keep on working. And the icing on the cake, who if not Toue himself was standing in the middle of the lab, checking the work from desk to desk like an elementary school teacher?

The eight young men were so startled that they almost lowered their weapons, and started to look at each other, uncertain of what to do next. After the first awkward silence, Mink stepped forward.

"Toue."

The man looked back at him and a tiny smile spread across his face.

"I see we have visitors", he said in an educated and calm voice.

And he finally approached the group. They all knew his face, because he appeared at Midorijima television almost daily. He was less intimidating in person, though: not very tall, or very elegant or very smart looking, at least at three in the morning under the lab cold lights, during an emergency time. He looked like a troubled middle-aged man who hadn't had any sleep in days.

"May I ask to what do I owe this visit, gentlemen?" he asked, politely.

Noiz wondered if Toue was being sarcastic or not. There wasn't any way he could tell.

"There are many reasons, old man…" Mink said. "But right now we want you to stop this virus of hell of yours."

Toue's eyebrows shot up, and he smirked, signalling the busy lab at his back.

"And what do you think we are trying to do here? We have been working on the solution for this madness since a week ago, when all of this started. Believe me, nobody wants this to stop as much as I do."

"Let me doubt that… This is your fault in the first place."

Toue squinted his eyes, serious.

"You don't have evidence of that, and it's a very dangerous accusation."

"And what if I had evidence?"

Toue sighed and rubbed his temples.

"That wouldn't change anything, in fact… We have a virus invading our island, and every single effort we have made in order to control it has failed miserably."

Mink kept glaring at Toue, unblinking, but the other seven men started to fidget, nervous. _If that's true, we are thoroughly fucked_, Noiz thought, fisting his hands in impotence.

"But there must be something we can do!" Mizuki exclaimed, walking forward to Mink's side.

"Well, yes: don't die", Toue said. "And make sure you burn the corpses of the ones who have died. That's the only way to avoid the virus to affect the dead and causing them to stand up again and try to kill and destroy everything around them. Fire is the most effective weapon against these creatures."

"Chopping their heads also works", one of the guys added.

They all nodded. After almost a week of that situation, they were all experts in fighting zombies.

"What about the army? You stated the first night that a well trained army from the main island would come to help us."

"Ah, yes, the army…" Toue smirked bitterly. "They did come. And they proposed to get rid of our 'little infestation problem' here if I handed them the original virus."

Mizuki's face fell.

"What for?"

"What do you think? Not in order to destroy it, that I can swear. I refused. Then they evacuated the few people who could fit into their planes, allowed a final commercial flight from Midorijima to the main island, and cut all communication with us, forbidding any further airplane or ship movement."

It was worse than they thought. They were, indeed, left to their own devices. Now they knew that nobody would send help, ever.

"Then we must get rid of those monsters ourselves", Noiz stated, flatly, while the others were still trying to get to terms with their situation. "We are running out of guns, bullets and flamethrowers. Can you provide those for us?"

Mink turned back to look at Noiz, startled, but he soon shook his stupor off and added:

"Yes, and men, also. You have a small army, do you?"

Toue considered the proposal, frowning.

"Most of my men evacuated the island along our Platinum Jail guests: currently, there are only a hundred of them. But yes, we still have a good quantity of ammunition, grenades and flamethrowers. And a helicopter; that could be useful as well."

Mink pierced his men with his dark eyes.

"Then we all know what must be done. It won't be easy, but we will recover Midorijima". He glanced at Toue again. "Meanwhile, keep working on an antidote. And we need a car to take everything we need to our base. Ah, and some food and clothes would be welcomed."

Toue nodded, his face dark with concern. Noiz didn't know what to think about the man, but all he could see was a very tired and very worried person. At last, that part wasn't faked. And if there was more hidden under that cover… _Well, let's leave it to Mink, we have enough with the zombies right now_, he thought.

The injured were led to a small clinic, at the other side of the corridor, where a nurse took care of their wounds. Aoba stayed by Noiz' side while the nurse cleaned and applied some staples to his side. Noiz didn't feel the pain, but he thought it was very cute from Aoba to care for him that way. Afterwards, the men dispersed and went to collect everything they needed: weapons, ammunition, food, clothing and medical supplies. Mink stayed at the lab to discuss further plans with Toue, and Noiz and Aoba went back to the storeroom where they had napped to grab a couple of boxes with uniforms, as they were the only attires Toue could provide. The people at the base wouldn't be picky about it, given the situation.

As soon they stepped inside the storeroom and the door closed behind them, Noiz realized it was the first time Aoba and he were alone in days.

"Hey", he said, reaching for Aoba's hand.

The young man turned with a questioning look, but he suddenly arrived to the same conclusion as Noiz, and his eyes widened. Noiz pulled him closer, but before he could kiss him, the blue haired boy placed his hands on both sides of Noiz' face and watched him for a heartbeat. Then he came closer, very slowly, and squinted his eyes when his half open lips were about to touch the mouth that was waiting eagerly for him. Noiz drank him all, thirsty as he was, holding that slim torso as close to him as was humanly possible.

He pushed Aoba until the blue haired man was pinned against a wall, and then he deepened his kiss. Aoba moaned his name against his mouth, grabbing his arms almost desperately. Noiz could feel his skin burning all of a sudden, and in other circumstances he would be tearing his own clothes away, unable to stand the heat. But the room had an only space, and if someone were to enter, they would be standing there in plain sight, so he decided against taking any clothes off. Instead, he pulled Aoba's t-shirt down until his clavicle showed, and licked him there, trailing wet kisses up his neck, mouthing the sweet flesh and feeling his blood pumping under the skin. Aoba's breath was laboured by now, and his fingers were clawing at him, nailing his arms and his back. Noiz lowered his hands and pinched Aoba's nipples, being rewarded by a hot gasp. Aoba took his face again and stole his mouth in a deep and wet snog, tilting his hips just a little bit, enough to brush his crotch against the hard aching member of his partner. Noiz felt a hot electric current when their erections rubbed against each other, and rolled his hips in a slow, lazy circle to achieve it again. Aoba moaned loudly, and it was the hottest sound Noiz had ever heard. He wanted to hear Aoba moan again and again, and perhaps record the sound as his coil alarm clock ringtone, so he could wake up every morning hearing that.

They started a rhythm, hips against hips, and hardness against hardness, their mouths on lips and teeth and cheeks and necks and every little bit of skin they could reach. And Aoba seemed so gone by then, that Noiz could only wonder if it was because perhaps in some hours both of them would be dead, and they were only celebrating being still alive, or if perhaps he wanted to gift Noiz with that final moment of happiness, or if, by chance, Aoba wanted him as much as he wanted Aoba; but that couldn't be the true option, because he didn't think anybody could ever want another person as much as he wanted Aoba. He scooped down and lifted one of the young man's legs, grabbing his thigh, hard inside his jeans, although he imagined the flesh soft under the fabric, and wished he could touch and kiss it as well. Noiz buried his face in Aoba's neck and started to thrust eagerly, fast and hard, rubbing their erections every time, panting and grunting, until he felt Aoba's body freezing and shuddering in his arms, and then a final low moan and a wetness against his crotch. He thrust hard once, twice, mouthing the delicate skin of Aoba's neck, and then he was also there, pleasure running up his spine and exploding sweetly through his dick, leaving him boneless and in a sort of dreamy state. And dirty. It also left him disgustingly dirty. He noticed the way his jeans stuck to his wet skin down there and he couldn't stand it.

"Do you mind if I change clothes?" he whispered to Aoba.

The boy seemed to be in the same state as him, both mentally and physically, so he nodded and said he would do the same. So they both stripped his jeans, shirts and underwear, keeping only their socks, and put a clean 'Toue Inc' overall on, Noiz a green one and Aoba a white one. They couldn't help to steal glances at each other's body, chuckling, and Noiz thought that, if they hadn't been already sated, no one in Earth would stop them to be again kissing and touching. They folded their dirty and rather torn clothes, tidied a bit the uniforms they had used as blankets some hours ago, and took two boxes each one, walking out the building at last.

Noiz glanced sideways from time to time, studying Aoba's profile. _We must get through this_, he thought. _We will._


End file.
